Confused.com’s Owe Carter would like your opinion: is the speed limit on the motorway set at the right level?
Over half of all motorists exceed the speed limit on motorways, and 16 per cent exceed 80mph.
Those are the statistics reported in the Department for Transport’s Road Statistics 2009: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion, which was published last month.
These statistics may not surprise you. After all, the speed limit for UK motorways was set in 1965, and cars have become considerably more powerful since then. Nowadays, it’s all too easy to be cruising at a speed in excess of the speed limit without realising it. Well, actually that’s not true for my car, which starts shaking when I hit 70mph (this isn’t a ‘feature’, by the way – just a coincidence). But the point remains.
So, over half of motorists break the law. This can get the motorist a fine, points on their licence, and send car insurance prices soaring. And yet they still do it.
Does that mean that half of all drivers are irresponsible, and that if they get a speeding ticket, they get what we deserve? Or do you think that the speed limit should move with the times and be raised, so that fewer motorists are penalised for things that they’re going to do anyway? Perhaps you think there should be no speed limit on the motorway, just like on the Autobahn (or, as I’ve just learned, on the Isle of Man)? Whatever your views, I’d love to hear from you.
Also, please bear in mind that I’m only talking about the national speed limit here – not the limit for built-up areas and so on.
Recent Comments